Thursday, 11 June 2015
Written by Seth Livingstone - NASCAR Wire Service

LONG POND, Pa. – Martin Truex Jr. knew that his third career victory would come – eventually.

Enjoying easily the finest season of his NASCAR career, Truex raced to a convincing win in Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400, leading 97 of 160 laps, including the final 27 at Pocono Raceway.

His victory marked the third consecutive Sprint Cup race in which Truex led the most laps. He’d led 131 laps at both Charlotte and Dover, only to come home fifth and sixth in the last two weeks.

“We finally got it,” said Truex, who had registered top-10 finishes in 12 of the first 13 races this season. “We've had a great season. We have had everything it has taken to win races (and) we just hadn’t got it done.

“This team deserves to win and I’ve known that all year long. Throughout my career I’ve kind of gotten used to disappointment, honestly, and I’ve learned to deal with those days where it didn’t go your way, even though you didn’t do anything wrong.”

With his overtime victory in Sunday’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway, Johnson became the fifth driver to win 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at a single track, joining Richard Petty, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Sr. in sharing that distinction.

Johnson’s triumph was his series-best fourth of the season and the 74th of his career, eighth most all-time and two behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Earnhardt in seventh place.

Unlike many of the six-time champion’s past victories at the Monster Mile, this was not a dominating performance by the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Johnson led but 23 laps, and didn’t take the top spot until he beat race runner-up Kevin Harvick to the stripe for a restart on Lap 383.